Salsola is from the Latin salsus meaning salted because some species in this genus grow in salty country or contain alkaline salts.
Kali
Prickly Saltwort.
Other names:
Buckbush
Prickly Roly-poly
Roly-poly
Russian Thistle
Saltwort
Soft Roly-poly
Tumbleweed.
Summary:
A rounded, bright green, dense, annual to biennial small shrub about 600 mm round, with small, cylindrical leaves and a dry fruit with papery wings or warts produced from spring to autumn. It breaks off at the base and is blown about in the wind like tumbleweeds
Description:
Cotyledons:
Two.
Leaves:
Alternate.
Stipules -
Petiole - None.
Blade - Bright to grey green, almost cylindrical, fleshy, 10-40 mm long by 2-3 mm wide, fleshy, bent back, smooth edges, sometimes with broad, faint, lengthwise stripes. Leaf ends in a prickly point. Broad at base and extend down the side of the stem.
Erect, 300-1000 mm high, initially fleshy and becoming rigid and brittle with age, many spreading branches. Hairless or with stiff hairs.
Flower head:
Single flowers in leaf axils forming a loose or compact spike towards the ends of the branches.
Flowers:
4-7 mm wide. No stalk. Bisexual, hermaphrodite.
Bracts - 2, opposite, egg shaped, thick, rigid, needle like point. Only slightly longer than the perianth.
Ovary - Sub globular. 2-3 very short styles. 2 stigmas.
Perianth - 5, 3-4 mm long, acute tipped, very short or no tube. Initially membranous and becoming leathery and closing over the fruit and forming 5, egg to kidney shaped, horizontal wings on the back. 3 wings are usually broader than the other 2 or occasionally they are reduced to warts.
Stamens - 5.
Anthers -
Fruit:
Dry, flattened, 4-7 mm wide, enclosed in the perianth, with a broad, 5 lobed horizontal wing all round or with 5 lumps on the base of the capsule. Fruit wall (pericarp) and outer seed coat (testa) membranous. Seed horizontal in the fruit.
Seeds:
Circular in outline, hemispherical. Embryo conical, somewhat spirally coiled, no food store(albumen), cotyledons in the centre.
Roots:
Taproot.
Key Characters:
Annual, leafy plant.
Branches not articulate or fleshy.
Leaves narrow, entire, glabrous or with non glandular hairs, some or all terete.
Fruiting perianth with dorsal wings.
Wings of fruiting perianth horizontal, membranous, broad.
Testa membranous.
Embryo spirally curved, without albumen.
From J.M. Black and B.L. Rye.
Biology:
Life cycle:
Annual to biennial. Seed germinates from autumn to winter. Flowers from August-February. After senescence many plants break off at the base and blow around almost intact.
Physiology:
Reproduction:
By seed.
Flowering times:
Spring to Autumn in western NSW.
September to February in SA.
Probably August to February in Perth.
Seed Biology and Germination:
Vegetative Propagules:
None.
Hybrids:
Two varieties. Var. strobilifera has a less dense growth form with clusters of flowers in small dense heads and bracts and bracteoles protruding like scales on a pine cone. Var. leptophylla has shorter and narrower leaves.
Allelopathy:
Population Dynamics and Dispersal:
Breaks at the base and is blown in the wind dispersing seeds.
Origin and History:
Europe, Asia or Australia. Cosmopolitan.
Distribution:
NSW, NT, QLD, SA, VIC, WA.
Habitats:
Climate:
Temperate. Mediterranean. Semi arid.
Soil:
Wide range.
Often more abundant on sandy soils or saline flats.
Plant Associations:
Many, especially open Mitchell Grass areas or at he base of bare sand hills.
Significance:
Beneficial:
Young plants readily grazed by cattle and to a lesser extent by sheep and horses.
Colonises denuded soils especially the red earths and prevents erosion.
Ash from leaves once used in glass manufacture.
Detrimental:
Weed of pasture, horse paddocks, denuded areas and disturbed areas.
Older plants unpalatable.
Tops blow across fields and gather on the fences collecting sand and debris and may cause fence to become buried.
Toxicity:
May cause oxalate poisoning and nitrate poisoning. Green plants less than 150 mm tall appear to be the most toxic. Field case of toxicity are usually associated with hungry stock being given access to dense, young infestations.
Symptoms:
Oxalate poisoning.
Nitrate poisoning.
Rapid death with little struggling within 8 hours of grazing.
Treatment:
Oxalate poisoning.
Nitrate poisoning.
Legislation:
None.
Management and Control:
It rarely survives in strong pastures.
Thresholds:
Eradication strategies:
Plant, fertilise and manage pastures for optimal production.
Herbicide resistance:
Biological Control:
Related plants:
None.
Plants of similar appearance:
Black Roly-poly (Sclerolaena muricata) has spiny burrs and is greyer and hairier.
References:
Auld, B.A. and Medd R.W. (1992). Weeds. An illustrated botanical guide to the weeds of Australia. (Inkata Press, Melbourne). P150-151. Photos.
Black, J.M. (1965). Flora of South Australia. (Government Printer, Adelaide, South Australia). P315-316. Diagram.
Cunningham, G.M., Mulham, W.E., Milthorpe, P.L. and Leigh, J.H. (1992). Plants of Western New South Wales. (Inkata Press, Melbourne). P279. Photo.
Everist, S.L. (1974). Poisonous Plants of Australia. (Angus and Robertson, Sydney). P150-151. Plate 8.
Hussey, B.M.J., Keighery, G.J., Cousens, R.D., Dodd, J. and Lloyd, S.G. (1997). Western Weeds. A guide to the weeds of Western Australia. (Plant Protection Society of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia). P134.
Lamp, C. and Collet, F. (1990). A Field Guide to Weeds in Australia. (Inkata Press, Melbourne).
Lazarides, M. and Hince, B. (1993). CSIRO handbook of economic plants of Australia. (CSIRO, Melbourne). #1082.1.
Marchant, N.G., Wheeler, J.R., Rye, B.L., Bennett, E.M., Lander, N.S. and Macfarlane, T.D. (1987). Flora of the Perth Region. (Western Australian Herbarium, Department of Agriculture, Western Australia). P89.